Monstrous Mechanical Marvels: 9 More Enormous Gadgets

Ugly and sometimes frightening, the largest “gadgets” on Earth help mankind achieve the magnificent. Take, for example, the airplane above, whose hideous looks have earned it the nickname Oscar Meyer Wienermobile. Mock it all you want, but that wiener can carry more cargo than your puny human body ever will.

Last month, Wired.com presented nine of the largest machines roaming the planet. Many of you commented with even better suggestions for enormous gadgets that we somehow missed. We’ve compiled them here, along with several more mechanical marvels we found. In this gallery, you’ll see a machine that simulates earthquakes, a Ferris wheel that takes you as high as the clouds, a giant telescope that keeps an eye on our universe, airplanes that help make space exploration possible, and more.

Boeing 747 Large Cargo Freighter

The mustard-yellow Boeing 747 Large Cargo Freighter (above) transports aircraft parts to Boeing from suppliers all over the world. Also called the Dreamlifter, this plane is a modified version of the commercial 747, also known as the Jumbo Jet. The original 747’s length, height and fuselage (i.e., main body section that holds cargo) were expanded to haul more cargo by volume than any airplane in the world. (One can only imagine how many actual Oscar Meyer wieners the Wienermobile could transport.)

Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope

Hidden in the green hills of West Virginia, the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (also known as the Great Big Telescope) stands 485 feet tall — almost 200 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty and just 70 feet shorter than the Washington monument. Unlike conventional telescopes, which have metal structures supporting the middle of their surface, the GBT’s aperture is completely unblocked. That increases the GBT’s useful area and sensitivity to get a stellar view of our universe.

Falkirk Wheel

Resembling a double-headed ax, the Falkirk Wheel is an enormous rotating boat lift located in Scotland. It was built to transfer canal boats from the Union Canal to the Forth and Clyde Canal. The wheel measures 110 feet in diameter and consists of two arms spaced 80 feet apart. The coolest part is that it’s self-balancing: The end of each arm holds a water-filled caisson (a water-tight bucket, basically) with a capacity of 96,000 gallons. The combined weight of each caisson plus the water and ship inside it is always the same, regardless of whether or not it’s carrying its full capacity. How? It’s Archimedes’ principle, baby!

Singapore Flyer

If skydiving isn’t your cup of tea, the Singapore Flyer — the world’s largest Ferris wheel — should bring you pretty close to the clouds with a bit more decorum. Located on top of a three-story terminal building in Singapore, the Flyer measures 492 feet in diameter. Tickets for rides cost between $20 to $30. Not too shabby: Riders get a 30-mile view of the city and beyond. Plus, each capsule has free air conditioning!

Atlas V

Just how do gigantic spacecraft get into space? With the help of expendable rockets shot by launch systems such as the Atlas V, of course. The Atlas V system features a launch pad with rockets powered by Russian-built RD-180 engines burning kerosene and liquid oxygen to power the first stage of launch. RL10 engines burn liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to power the upper stage. In 2005, an Atlas V booster carried the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter — a spacecraft exploring Mars — into outer space. The Atlas V is about 190 feet tall and 12 feet in diameter, weighing in at 1.2 million pounds.

While it’s big, the Atlas V is not the biggest rocket ever. That honor belongs to the 363-foot tall, 33-foot diameter Saturn V used in the Apollo and Skylab programs from 1967 to 1973. The Saturn V is the only machine ever to take humans to another world — beyond Earth’s orbit — which, as astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has said, makes it “the crowning achievement of human ingenuity and the fulfillment of dreams.” The Saturn V’s engines are shown below, next to rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun.

Antonov AN-225

Another questions arises: How do spacecraft even make it to their launch sites? The largest aircraft in the world, the Antonov An-225 was built in Ukraine with a uniquely sized cargo deck to transport the Buran orbiter during the Soviet era. The An-225 measures 276 feet in length and 290 feet in wingspan, weighing in at 1.3 million pounds.

Taisun

Living in the Yantai Raffles Shipyard in China, the Taisun is the world’s largest (and perhaps ugliest) crane. Though its looks aren’t impressive, the Taisun holds the world record for holding the heaviest lift of all time at 20,133 tons. The Taisun stands 436 feet tall and can lift loads as high as 262 feet. Its main duty is installing enormous modules on top of vessels’ hulls.

Hyogo’s Shake Table

To understand earthquakes, we can’t just look at rocks. We have to create earthquakes of our own, and that’s what a shake table is for. The device is comprised of a rectangular platform that sends simulated ground motions into a structural model — basically, a building — to test how it responds to earthquakes. The shake table demonstrated in the video above was built by the Hyogo Earthquake Engineering Research Center in Japan. It measures 65 feet by 49 feet and can shake a structure weighing up to 1,322 tons.

Microsoft Surface

Though it’s not one of the biggest machines in the world, the Microsoft Surface will probably be the largest gadget you ever own, if Microsoft ever begins selling this “big ass table” to consumers. Most often found in hotels, restaurants and AT&T stores, the surface recognizes multi-touch gestures and even real world objects. The parody video above sums up the idea even better than Microsoft.

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